Carcano Rifles

[RCS]

I have seen photos of the double set triggers for the rifle - quite interesting for a military rifle.
Very rare are the clips for the late 7.92x57mm conversion

[bearhunter]

You're right about the clips for the 7.92 calibre rifles. I don't believe they were conversions though. I believe, Steyr purposely built those rifles. Not really sure why though. Lots of speculation on that subject though.

If you're interested, I modified a 7.92x57 mannlicher schoenauer clip to fit. It's a bit sloppy but works well. The rifles don't respond well to single feeding.

Many Carcanos were sporterised by Internation Firearms in Canada. One of the things they did, to add value. was modify the trigger/mag housing to a double set trigger configuration. They misled many into believing the rifle was chambered in the 6.5x54MS, by only stamping 5.5mm on the barrels. I never heard of any accidents but it certainly POed a lot of people.

[jmoore]

Many Carcanos were sporterised by Internation Firearms in Canada. One of the things they did, to add value. was modify the trigger/mag housing to a double set trigger configuration. They misled many into believing the rifle was chambered in the 6.5x54MS, by only stamping 5.5mm on the barrels. I never heard of any accidents but it certainly POed a lot of people.

Apparently Cooey DID convert some to a 0.264" bored 6.5mm MS caliber, which, dangerously enough, will chamber some 6.5 Carcano rounds.

Click on link below, if you are interested:

http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=15614

[bearhunter]

I remember that discussion. I had forgotten they were converted for Cooey (Canadian Winchester subsidiary). I mentioned International Firearms had done the conversions, because they offered them for sale. With either trigger group. Those were good days, for firearms owners in Canada. We could buy new Colt AR15s and many other milsurps from the Sidney I. Robinson catalogue, just by sending a check or money order. The only restricteds we worried about were full autos and hand guns.
The double trigger set up on those conversions was sloppy. The adjustments were coarse, the finish on the interacting parts wasn't polished and I suspect very soft.

[RCS]

You must have seen these white boxes of 6,5 Carcano they were around alot - we use to call them the "Oswald" ammo boxes. Produced by Winchester for special operations, then became surplus.

I know that I have seen photos of the long 1891 rifle called the sharpshooter model with military double set triggers ?Attachment 13907

[RCS]

Found a photo of a M1891/41 target rifle s/n E29xx built for military target shooting, barrel is FAT '41.

Have photos in my email if anyone is interested ?

[jmoore]

"Quick" photo or two regarding previous query. Of course, technically it's NOT a "real" sniper rifle. "Oswald Special" duplicate :

[AmEngRifles]

I have a 7.35 carbine model that was given to me years ago by an aquaintence when she found out I enjoy rifles and collecting. She told me they found it in the wall of an apartment she owned that was getting remodeled! I have ammo and clips with it. The bore is good and the blueing is not bad either. The only weird thing was the magazine/trigger housing had a strange green paint applied to it? I may have goofed, but I just steel wooled down to bare metal.

I have never shot this rifle mainly because when I chamber a round, the bolt closes very tightly, and I worry about head space issues. With the talk of how strong these rifles are, I am a little more inclined to go shoot it. Never bothered taking it to a gunsmith, bcause A: had no money in the rifle, and B: didn't seem worth the trouble as I have never had a strong desire to shoot the thing.

Am I missing some fun?

[smellie]

Here once again the Carcano is a beast all of its own.

It is common to discover other rifles with great amounts of headspace, but NOT Carcanos. The italians seem to have been most conservative in the fitting of bolts to these critters and, when they erred, they always erred on the side of safety.

The result is that it is not unusual at all to encounter a Carcano which is more than a tad tight. It might be tight to close, but it will extract and eject properly once the round has been fired. At least, mine does.

I would have no qualms about firing the 7.35, just bearing in mind the fact that ammo just is NOT available any longer. Making the stuff, though, is no problem. You can open out 6.5 Carcano brass with a minimum of fuss and bother. Hornady used to list the correct 128-grain .300" bullet for this rifle and it is entirely likely that they still have the tooling. Heck, they might even still have bullets around! If you can't find the right bullet, it should be possible to make up a die to reduce .308 bullets to .300. Cast bullets would be easier to do, but it should be possible to reduce jacketed ones also.

The 7.35 never did get the recognition it deserved. In many ways, it was much closer to the ideal of an assault rifle round than the .308W (7.62NATO) which replaced it a few years down the road. Much lower pressures, too.

[jmoore]

The 7.35 never did get the recognition it deserved. In many ways, it was much closer to the ideal of an assault rifle round than the .308W (7.62NATO) which replaced it a few years down the road. Much lower pressures, too.

Aside from the cartridge's OAL, I must heartily agree! Had the rifle been as forward looking as the round, it might have gotten more attention.

There's even a somewhat rambling thread dedicated to the 7.35 round, but progress has been slow:

http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=15006